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Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Fry is immune

SERIOUS gaps in Feedback鈥檚 cultural corpus are filled by a reader who informs us that the QuWave Defender (31 August) brings to mind 鈥渁 theme in the animated TV show Futurama鈥�. The device鈥檚 promoters ask potential customers: 鈥淎re you constantly being鈥� Subject to Remote Brain Manipulation?鈥� We observed that it does more than 鈥渨onderfully merge the realms of conspiracy theory and nonstandard nostrums鈥�: and it does resemble a theme in Futurama.

Following (and preceding) an accident involving a time machine, the main character in the show, Philip J. Fry, is his own grandfather. He is also the only human, our reader assures us, to lack 鈥淨-waves鈥�, rendering him immune to telepathic attack.

But when we consulted the oracle of Futurama fans at , we read that it is delta brainwaves that Fry lacks. In the spirit of paranoia embodied in the alleged product, we conclude that 鈥淭hey鈥� have been through the entire digital archive changing references to Fry鈥檚 abnormality to cover their tracks. Possibly. Will 鈥淭hey鈥� also post-edit this piece?

鈥淭apioca must be a hitherto unknown superfood,鈥� says Terjei Jensen. According to , a 28-gram serving provides 728 grams of carbohydrates and 3033 calories 鈥� a day-and-a-half鈥檚 worth

Pesky caveats

SEVERAL readers were less than convinced by Feedback鈥檚 suggestion that German customs officials might have been suspicious of the amounts of fluoride exported to Syria (5 October). The shipments were, according to German newspaper S眉ddeutsche Zeitung, .

We calculated that they were sufficient to make 1.1 kilograms of fluoridated toothpaste for every Syrian citizen each year. Alan Dix was one who did his own sums and said he could get through that much.

Should we have specified that we used some journalists鈥� rules of thumb for scepticism about averages? For Syria鈥檚 fluoride imports not to raise suspicions would require that every last inhabitant was an enthusiastic brusher, or, expecting a skewed distribution of enthusiasm, that some got through so much toothpaste that they brought the national annual mean consumption to 1.1 kilograms 鈥� and also that Germany was Syria鈥檚 only source of fluoride.

Alan responds with a crisp summing-up of Feedback鈥檚 working life: 鈥淚 know, it wouldn鈥檛 have sounded so funny with all the caveats.鈥�

Fluoride fantasy fear

MEANWHILE, for other peoples鈥� translations of the , Feedback was saddened but not surprised to find that fruitloops were instantly on the case. First up was a with the description 鈥淔luoride is used to make Sarin gas, yet they say it is okay for your drinking water and toothpaste?鈥�

Yes, yes, but both of these contain much more of the notoriously dangerous substance 鈥渄ihydrogen monoxide鈥� (chemical name H₂O), the vicious trade in which Feedback has oft exposed since 18 May 1996.

Exponentially expanding error

OVER-HELPFUL machinery is one of Feedback鈥檚 pet hates. Reader Rowland Coles reported one example: the attempts by his 鈥渟mart鈥� phone to assist with names leading it to dub the home number of a friend with initials KW 鈥淜ilowatt home鈥� (29 June).

Tom Dobbs updates us. Driving in France, he encountered roads labelled with both their national and their European designation 鈥� such as the 鈥淎 20 E 9鈥�. His satellite navigation gizmo spoke this aloud as something like 鈥淎 twenty times ten to the power nine鈥�.

Now we come to think of it, any self-respecting computer programmer would, when on duty, read 鈥�20 E 9鈥� as (slightly off) for a large number. But that鈥檚 not much help on holiday.

With luck, such effortful expositions will go the way of Microsoft鈥檚 鈥淐lippy鈥� digital assistant, exterminated after much derision (27 November 2010, p 32). Then we can go back to computers doing what they鈥檙e good at: obedience, whether or not our instructions make sense.

How much is undiscovered?

UNDISCOVERED oil 鈥� how much is down there? Brian Cain alerts us to the Financial Times reporting that: 鈥淎 record decline in Arctic sea ice has been widely seen as economically beneficial until now, as it opens up more shipping and drilling in a region thought to contain 30 per cent of the world鈥檚 undiscovered gas and 13 per cent of its undiscovered oil.鈥�

鈥淚f the gas and the oil is undiscovered how do they know?鈥� Brian asks, reasonably. Our colleague who keeps a slide rule on a shelf next to their laptop mutters that they can make justifiable guesstimates. Build a model in computer software, feed in the distribution of rock formations that ask the geologists 鈥渨hy not drill here?鈥� 鈥� formations that based on past experience may harbour oil 鈥� plus the success rate of previous exploratory wells, and so on鈥�

鈥淏ut then,鈥� our colleague complains, 鈥済overnments and oil companies spoil all the elegant maths by fibbing, for political and share-price-related reasons, respectively. As for Arctic melting being 鈥榖eneficial鈥欌�� to whom?鈥�

A drain by any other name

FINALLY, from New Zealand, Rosemary Fineman sends a document awarding a Pressure Sewerage Equipment Supply contract to Ecoflow Ltd of Auckland 鈥� giving as contact person at Ecoflow one Karl Stench.